Essay On Humans, WWII,
History, in essence, is a list of disastrous, irrational, and amusing events that have occurred over time due to human fault, and which have had no affect on the future and its course whatsoever. The “motto” of history is, to quote the words of the great novelist Kurt Vonnegut, “so it goes”. In other words, what happens to this earth and to those who inhabit it does just that, it happens and then simply passes by while time resumes its course through history, so that someday the human race may look back at certain events and wonder, “how could that of happened,” or, “what a terrible thing!” Some people may argue that history is there for us to “learn from it”. Such a dangerous assumption cannot be made, as it opens the mind to ignorance of human irrationality and stupidity, which is the exact reason why we as humans will never learn from history, which makes trying to do so a pointless endeavor. Simply put, history will go on through time being long ignored, and history will thus repeat itself, something it has done numerous times already. Such a statement may seem largely pessimistic, but nevertheless it remains true and without error. And, of course, it goes largely unnoticed; few people listened to Karl Marx when he philosophically stated, “history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce”. Human irrationality clearly dominates history; humans will never cease their absurd and ludicrous behavior. The American Revolution, the French Revolution, the American Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, and most definitely World War II are the results of stunningly extreme human behavior. As human behavior does not change, history’s repetition, like mentioned before, is undeniably inevitable. All that is required of a human in order to discover these truths mentioned above is that they have possession of a brain free of the stain of ignorance, and then the ability to make a quick analysis of any one of our past historical events. If one wishes to find an example of human irrationality in history, then they need only look towards the world events of the early twentieth-century, most particularly the nation of Germany between ‘33 and ‘45. Germany, a nation struck by bitter bankruptcy and entrusted with a pool of overflowing debt and deficits as a heartwarming gift from the Europeans, was undergoing a catastrophic change. Germany was forced to pay reparation payments under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. As the troubled nation failed to pay the required payments, they were then occupied by French troops in January of 1923, along the Ruhr. And thus from then on the state of Germany’s entire nation declined. All of these events gave way to the founding of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, or the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. The new political party stemmed from the 1919 founding of the German Workers’ party, but instead instituted radical changes to the party and what it stood for. The party primarily advocated a form of right-wing Socialism, anti-Bolshevism, anti-Semitism, and especially promoted a German master race known as the “Aryan race”. The party also rejected the Treaty of Versailles. The National Socialist German Workers’ Party, commonly known as the “Nazi” party, soon led to the rise of one of the most influential leaders in history, Adolf Hitler, who in turn paved the way for what is thought of as the most disastrous human conflict in history, World War II. In order to see where human irrationality ties in with the above, one must go back and analyze the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. The Traité de Versailles, or the Treaty of Versailles, was a peace treaty at the end of World War I. The Treaty of Versailles ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers, mainly France, Britain, and the Russian Empire. Signed in 1919, one year after the 1918 Armistice with Germany, the Versailles Treaty was meant to force Germany to accept and acknowledge the substantial damage and losses that they caused during the war. Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, in fact, states the following, “The Allied and Associated Governments affirm and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies”. The treaty thus forced Germany to disarm, surrender absurd amounts of territory, and pay reparations to certain countries, all of which cost Germany roughly the equivalent of $442 billion. In essence, the Treaty of Versailles was almost meant to serve a biblical need for revenge, which in itself is irrational and illogical beyond comprehension. Thus, the Treaty of Versailles was the true cause of the rise to Nazism, which in turn contributed to the conflict of World War II. In fact, as revenge was the main factor for the treaty’s harsh requirements, it could be said that revenge, a product of sheer human senselessness, was the cause of Nazi Germany’s rise to power. As Germany was taken over by people such as Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, the citizens of Germany began to become more and more nationalistic and hopeful for the future of their nation. Slowly but surely the citizens of Germany were seduced by the charming yet passionate words of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party, which then rendered the citizens utterly blind to Hitler’s true ambitions and the effect it would have on the world. As time progressed and as Hitler gained even more influence in Germany, he began to set his mind to retrieving the territory taken from Germany due to the Treaty of Versailles. In time, war broke out across Europe. Masses of innocent, young children were sent off to fight in a merciless children’s crusade, a children’s crusade which in time would lead to abhorrent casualties and, for those who survived the endeavor, the frightfully sickening side-effects of “shell shock”. Vital cities were mercilessly bombed, countless families were torn apart, and men were once again turned against each other and were faced with only one important ambition; to slaughter relentlessly any and every man of the enemy and all chances of their victory. Let the reader not forget that, during the aftermath of the First World War, it was thought to be “the war to end all wars”. As World War II advanced swiftly, Nazi Germany rose to complete power through the tactics of Adolf Hitler and his socialist party of “German workers”. Europe was soon torn apart as a plaque of malice spread, going through every nation and infecting every man with a horrific lust for bloodshed, vengeance, and power, all of which are the unnecessary results of extreme human behavior. As a result of this, the Germans were not the only ones with fatal and frightening passions. The British and Americans also shared the tendency to act according to Machiavellian terms, and it was those terms that drove the two nations to share their favorite pastime of bombing, in the infamous bombing of Dresden. Here the world is given the perfect example of what the result of irrational human behavior truly looks like. It is an explosion of utter confusion, terror, and disbelief, mixed in with particles of human blood, flesh, and the excess of rubble and debris that is the pathetic loss of innocent souls. The city of Dresden is the capital of the German state of Saxony, and has always been a center for attention in Germany. However, during 1945 the famous city got an unusual amount of attention that it wasn’t prepared for. Four raids were planned by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces that were to target Dresden and were to take place between 13 and 15 February of 1945. Surely enough, around 17:20 hours CET the first of the British aircraft took off on a journey of 1,100 kilometers. Soon after the target was clearly identified and visible by the Lancaster aircraft of No. 5 Group (which served as the Pathfinder Force), the main bomber force, a group of around two hundred Lancasters known as “Plate Rack,” ascended into the air. Carrying around five hundred tons of high explosives and around 370 tons incendiaries (fire bombs), “Plate Rack” would serve as a fatal evening surprise for the citizens of the capital of Saxony. The high explosives were expected to rupture water mains and demolish the structures of the buildings by shattering windows and blowing off roofs and doors, which in turn would generate an airflow that would cater to the following incendiary-induced fire. Around halfway into the twenty-first hour of CET, Dresden sirens began to sound. Three hours later a second attack was underway; the Lancaster aircraft groups of 1, 3, 6, and 8 (Pathfinder Force) allowed the thousands of fires in Dresden to be seen over 60 miles away just on ground. The main targets this time were the undamaged areas of the main train station and a large park known as the “Großer Garten”. As the sirens again sounded (which could only be heard within a block due to lack of electricity), around five hundred Lancasters struck again with a devastating amount of over eighteen hundred tons of bombs. It was early morning of 14 February when the citizens of Dresden dawned upon the fact that the Fatherland was under direct and brutal attack, and those attacks would not end for two more days. The previous day the weather had prevented the United States Army Air Force from joining the bombing forces, and instead the bombers of the 1st Bombardment Division of the United States VIII Bomber Command were scheduled to bomb Dresden around noon, while bombardment divisions were to bomb other more minor landmarks. Surely enough again, 771 tons of bombs were flying fatally down on Dresden by hundreds of B-17 Flying Fortresses. While others bombed Prague, Brux, and Pilsen, the 379th and 303rd bombardment group continued the pointless assault on Dresden, reducing the city to even more of a sadistic mess. Soon after noon the last group completed the bombing for 14th. The next day, the 15th, the 401st bombardment group missed their target of Dresden, as did the other groups, resulting in their munitions being scattered widely. The ending result of the operation was stunningly catastrophic. Sirens continued to wail throughout the day, and firestorms began sprouting up. By early Ash Wednesday, interestingly enough, the entire center of Dresden was being devoured by a firestorm that created temperatures over 2700 degrees Fahrenheit. Anyone who didn’t survive the assault was turned to a frightening mold of ash, and those who did survive would never forget the images of those who didn’t. Banks, insurance buildings, stores, shops, warehouses, churches, cinemas, schools, a zoo, the railways, and even ships and barges were all devoured, leveled, and destroyed. Dresden was no longer the beautiful, flourishing, cultural center it formerly had been, but a mass grave of those who some would say had died in vain. Soon the whole world was put into a state of shock and disbelief, except of course the government officials of Britain and America. All citizens of all countries where the news was publicized were dumbfounded and saddened and were questioning how such a thing could happen – but in the end no one truly and heartily cared, no one truly and heartily repented, no one tried to effectively change their actions based on the horrific events they saw. As always, history went along its fatal course, untarnished by the influence of humans. Things such as bombings, battles, genocide, and even just daily senseless arguments continued to happen, and they will continue to do that – just happen. If, however, such things as war and strife were to just continue to happen inevitably, then some may say that there is no point in composing such things as anti-war statements, novels, or anything that was trying to do essentially what can’t be done. Kurt Vonnegut, in his book “''Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children’s Crusade: A Duty Dance With Death'',” compared writing an anti-war book to writing an anti-glacier book; the event of a war is as inevitable as the event of a glacier. However, it could be said that writing an anti-war book could “evangelize” those who were not ignorant of the true effect of war, which however was very few. Nevertheless, an author and survivor of the Dresden firebombing, Kurt Vonnegut, emerged with a new work, a work that explored the true effect of war and the true senselessness of human behavior. Known as “''Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children’s Crusade: A Duty Dance With Death'',” or plainly “''Slaughterhouse-Five'',” it was a work of historical fiction that followed the life of Billy Pilgrim, a fatalistic, unenthusiastic alien-abductee, WWII veteran, and Dresden survivor that frequently but unwillingly traveled to different times of his life. He is shown by the aliens who abduct him, the Tralfamadorians, that free will only exists on earth, that things like war simply just happen, and that those who die are only dead in that certain moment, but very much alive and well in other moments. The Tralfamadorians may in fact represent the German soldiers of WWII and their philosophy towards life, but that however is not directly pointed out. Slaughterhouse-Five ''essentially is a work of satire and parody, but is also pointed out to be a semi-autobiography, as Kurt Vonnegut, an American prisoner of war, was placed in a slaughterhouse in Dresden with other prisoners of war and was coincidently sheltered there during the bombing. The book of ''Slaughterhouse-Five, while fiction in that many of the characters are made up, is quite historically accurate. Kurt Vonnegut simply takes his experience in the war and into that weaves his philosophy, beliefs, and ideas. The result is an ingenious symphony of complete truth. Kurt Vonnegut uses creative metaphors, symbols, and irony in his book that are meant to present to the reader with a different paradigm of the world and with a completely new philosophy of looking at life and humanity, especially by exposing many common human idiosyncrasies. One peculiar thing about the novel, however, is the fact that Vonnegut waits until the actual last few pages to actually describe the event of the Dresden bombing. In fact, the bombing of Dresden is not the actual climax, but the execution of a man for a petty theft that took place directly after the bombing is – an example of the great irony Vonnegut puts into use and how he exposes our irrational behavior. As shocked as the Germans were when the bombing began, maybe even more so were the American prisoners of war when, after finding the door to the outside world left open, left their slaughterhouse shelter to find the once-beautiful city now a burning dimension of hell. Slaughterhouse-Five is, essentially, a time lapse of a simple man who goes unaffected and uninfluenced by the world around him. This is done to show the readers a new view on the war that the man, Billy, is forced into. It is, as the title of Slaughterhouse-Five says, a “duty dance with death”. And fate being a theme of the novel, it is fate that chooses to sustain Billy’s life throughout the war. One could even make the connection of comparing Billy to history; they both go unaffected and uninfluenced by the world around them. The topic of human irrational behavior that was covered in the introduction and shown through the causes and beginnings of World War II is now also shown and exemplified in one of Kurt Vonnegut’s greatest works, his Slaughterhouse-Five. Perhaps though, putting the theme of senseless behavior aside, the one main point that Vonnegut wished to clearly emphasize was the fact that there was nothing good or sensible to be said about the war, and that no one could make anything out of such an event as Dresden. Vonnegut makes this clear by one line of a birdsong, and that birdsong was the only thing sensible that could be said after the war. In fact, it was all that was said. The birdsong asked the simple question of “poo-tee-weet,” a question that was no harder yet no easier to answer than the cliché questionnaire people present to other people regarding war, genocide, and anything tragic when asking things such as “''Why'' did this happen,” “''How'' could this of happened,” “''Who would do such a thing,” and of course, “Why would anyone allow this to happen?” The truths stated here by the writer and by Kurt Vonnegut is of course evident. Many humans, however, have yet to see these truths, which may refute their being evident. These tragic and disastrous “wartime” events thus occur consistently and will continue to occur as a product of human behavior. While a few things can be prevented from occurring, it may be argued that people should instead let nature “take its course” and thus let nature be responsible for all destruction. Through ''Slaughterhouse-Five, ''Kurt Vonnegut attempts to make the above truths known to many, and in a way Vonnegut succeeds. However, that was not enough to end our illogical behavior, and the world rages on in war. This may bring forward the question of free will; do we as humans have free will? Kurt Vonnegut also uses that question as a theme in his novel, but never clearly gives his answer as he does with other questions, but rather leaves open the possibility of both sides to answer. Perhaps we may never truly know the answer to the question of free will, but it is certainly safe to say that a large majority of humans make their decisions based on the irrational need for revenge and vengeance, and their tendency to allow themselves to be governed by their emotions. As this treatise draws to a conclusion, it may be safe to conclude that, like ''Slaughterhouse-Five, this is an anti-glacier paper. An average human reader will likely get as much out of this that is beneficial as they would get out of the famous line of “poo-tee-weet?” In result, these statements are drawn to a definite close, and in honour of Kurt Vonnegut, with one last question that the reader should at least attempt to answer truthfully. Poo-tee-weet? Category:Philosophy